Twas the Night Before Christmas
by Erin Cale
Summary: Some early Christmas fluff. Will Harper get Dylan and Beka to kiss before midnight? Mostly Dylan/Beka but a little bit of Harper/Trance is thrown in as well.


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Disclaimer: Not mine. Though the actions might not be quite in character, the characters in this story belong to somebody else. The only thing that is mine is the story.

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Author's Notes: This came to me while I was trying to get past a writer's block on another Andromeda fic. I still haven't gotten past that block but oh well.

Do you have Andromeda fic on the Net? Check out the submission page on my site. http://www.geocities.com/beka_hunt/

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

By Erin_Cale

"Captain, it's 0700. Time to wake up."

"Yeah, yeah. I hear you _Andromeda_. I'm up." Dylan groaned and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Anything interesting happen during the night?"

"Nothing."

"I suppose that's a good thing."

"Yes sir."

Dylan grabbed his change of clothes for the day and headed to the bathroom. He emerged a few minutes later, pulling his shirt down quickly. He yawned, looking at his desk. The desk had been cleaned and nothing was on it except for his force lance.

"That's not where I usually put it," he said, looking about the room suspiciously. He saw his force lance lying where it usually did. Nothing else had been moved. "_Andromeda_, was anybody in this room while I was asleep?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I was asked not to," _Andromeda_ answered.

"Okay." He shrugged and examined the force lance. A note lay beside it. He picked it up. "Dylan," he read, "I had Harper make this force lance more efficient than your normal one is. I also engraved another note on the force lance itself." He picked up the force lance and read the note. "To Dylan. May this force lance always keep you coming back home. Love, Beka." Dylan's jaw dropped. "Beka?" He put down the force lance back where he had found it and decided to go ask his first officer some questions.

***

"He found the force lance."

Harper jumped as _Andromeda_'s hologram appeared before him. "Good. You didn't tell him that I was the one who put it there, did you?"

"He didn't ask."

"Good. Now if they can just kiss before midnight, I'll win the bet."

"What bet?" _Andromeda_ asked.

"I bet Trance that those two would kiss before midnight on Christmas Eve. Well, today is Christmas Eve. So if they don't kiss before midnight, I owe Trance a Vedran rose bush."

"Harper, those things are-"

"Very rare, I know. That's why I have to get them to kiss before midnight."

"What if Dylan asks her about the force lance and she tells him the truth?"

"Uh oh. I didn't think of that. Where's Dylan now?"

"On his way to the _Maru_."

"Great! I need to catch him!"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll tell him that something is going wrong in the reactor and I need his help."

"He won't believe that, Harper."

"Then I'll wing it." He was already out the door when _Andromeda_'s hologram finally shimmered out of existence.

***

Beka was pacing in her quarters aboard the _Maru_. In her mind she was running through possible gifts. She was starting to get worried because she had yet to find the perfect gift for him.

"Wait a minute," she said, stopping in the middle of the room. "Why am I worried about finding the perfect present for him? He's a friend, nothing more, right?" The silence seemed to mock her inquiry. "Okay, maybe not. But am I falling for him?" She sighed. "Yep." She continued her pacing. She had to tell him of her discovery... if for nothing else, so she'd be able to quit talking to herself.

Just as she had decided to tell him, she heard the airlock to the _Maru_ opening. She spun around, only to find Dylan standing before her with a confused look on his face.

"Did you-" he started.

"Boss!" came another voice.

"Harper?" Beka asked, peering around Dylan's shoulder.

"Uh, I need you to, uh, help me because, uh, _Andromeda_ won't listen to my commands," he said hurriedly, switching his gaze between his two captains.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I need your help." Harper took a breath. "One of you needs to help me! If it's what I think it is, I won't be able to do all the work myself.

Dylan's look was one of disbelief but he said anyway, "I'll help you, even though I've never heard you ask for help before."

"There's a first time for everything."

"Anything I can do?" Beka asked.

"If there is, we'll let you know," Harper said, already backing out of the room.

*** 

Seven hours later, Dylan pulled back from some wiring to wipe some sweat from his eyes. "Harper, there was never a problem, was there?"

"What makes you say that, boss?" Harper asked from behind a piece of machinery.

"Because I haven't found anything that could possibly suggest a problem."

"Well, I suppose you can go get some rest. I'll keep searching."

Dylan sighed and left, wiping his hands on his pants. After the doors had closed, Harper asked out loud, "_Andromeda_, how am I going to do this and still get them to kiss before midnight?"

_Andromeda_'s hologram appeared next to him. "I don't know. Maybe you should chase them around with mistletoe."

"What?"

"Mistletoe."

"That's a great idea! Do we have any mistletoe?"

The hologram looked a little alarmed that he had actually listened to her sarcastic comment. "Yes, in the hydroponics bay."

"Great!" Harper jumped up from behind the machinery.

As Harper once again left her alone in the room, Andromeda found herself thinking that maybe telling him about the mistletoe hadn't been a great idea.

***

Beka walked into the Obs. deck a half an hour later looking for Dylan. She found him laying on the bench that sat in the middle of the room.

"Dylan?"

He groaned and spoke without opening his eyes. "For the past seven hours, I have been helping Harper look for a problem that never existed."

"Why would he do something like that to you?" Beka stepped closer and sat down on the bench beside him.

"I don't know. It's like he was... trying to distract me from something."

"Hmm." Beka took a deep breath and decided to tell him now. "Dylan-"

"Merry Christmas everybody!" Harper burst through the doors with Trance following close behind.

"Harper!" The purple pixie exclaimed. "You're not even going to _apologize_ for hurting Henry?"

"Harper," Dylan said, finally sitting up with an exasperated look on his face. "What did you do this time?"

"He stole some branches from Henry to hang all over the ship!"

"Harper?" Beka asked, looking at her crewman.

"It's mistletoe," Harper whined. "It's an old Earth tradition. If a man and woman are caught underneath a twig of mistletoe, they have to kiss. Um, speaking of which..." Harper pointed to a green bundle over Dylan's and Beka's heads.

The two captains looked at each other. Dylan's eyes widened slightly. Beka gave him a crooked smile and leaned forward.

"Captain, there's a Nietzchean vessel approaching."

"Crap," Harper muttered under his breath. Dylan, Beka and Trance were already out the door. As soon as the trio passed out of hearing range, Harper asked _Andromeda_, "Don't you think you could have waited for one more minute?"

"It's urgent," the ship replied. "The Nietzchean vessel claims to be an emissary from a Nietzchean pride willing to sign the Commonwealth charter."

"But couldn't you have waited one more minute?"

_Andromeda_ didn't dignify the question with an answer. Harper sighed and followed the others to Command.

***

After seven hours of a lengthy search for weapons, negotiations and an attempted takeover, the crew was even more tired than normal. Even Beka and Dylan leaned against each other as they walked, fighting to keep their eyes open.

"Come on," Trance said, skipping ahead.

"How is it that you still have energy?" Beka asked.

"That's easy, because she's the purple pixie," Harper answered.

"Come on, everybody. The obs. deck is just a few more feet." Trance skipped up to the door and opened it for the others.

When the crew finally entered the obs. deck, the transformation was enough to wake them up. Garlands were strung everywhere and a beautiful fake tree stood in majestic silence in the middle of the room, lit only by one string of small lights.

"Trance, it's beautiful. How- When did you do this?"

"I borrowed some of the 'bots and set it up while you were searching the Nietzchean emissary for weapons."

"And we didn't do a good job, did we?" Harper asked, half to himself. To everybody else he said, "You did a great job, Trance."

"Eggnog?" she asked as she brought over a tray with seven glasses. Each person took a glass and held them up.

"Cheers," Dylan said, clinking his glass with the others.

"Cheers," came the collective response. After sipping the eggnog, they sat down to open the presents that sat under the tree.

Beka unwrapped a present from Dylan to find a beautiful old-fashioned portrait. "Dylan, did you paint this?"

"Yes."

"I never knew you could paint."

"I have a lot of talents that you don't know about. Merry Christmas." Dylan leaned in and kissed his first officer.

"Rommie, what time is it?" Harper whispered, nudging the avatar beside him.

"11:59," she answered.

"Yes!" He turned and spoke to the purple being on his other side. "Hah! I won!"

"Yep. You did." Trance's smile was enigmatic. Harper turned back just in time to see Dylan and Beka pull apart.

"Now, how did you manage to get into my quarters without my knowing this morning?"

"What?" Beka asked.

"Didn't you leave a force lance in my room this morning?"

"No."

"Oops," Harper whispered. Hurriedly he leaned closer to Trance and said, "I got you the rose bush anyway. You'll find it in the hydroponics garden. Right now, I've got to go before Dylan and/or Beka kills me." He quickly kissed Trance on the cheek. "Merry Christmas." With that, he ran out of the room, searching for a place to hide.

After the doors had closed, the room erupted into laughter. "Well, I guess he won't try that again," Dylan said, a bright smile wiping away what fatigue had remained on his handsome face.

"He won't need to," Beka said, resting her chin on Dylan's shoulder as she handed him a small package. "Merry Christmas, Dylan."

Dylan opened the gift carefully. Inside was a holo projector. He pressed the activation key and a hologram popped up that showed each of the crew standing in the new command center.

"We never posed for this," Dylan objected.

"I gave a picture of each of us to a holo artist, who then made this. He even showed me how to alter it if you ever want to know."

"No. No, this is wonderful." He looked at Beka. "Thank you."

"Harper is going to be sad that he missed this," Rev commented.

"Speaking of Harper, I need to find out how he got into my room and how to keep him out of it."

"Well, I don't think he's going to make a regular habit of it." Beka laughed. "But if you want..." She lifted her head off of Dylan's shoulder and whispered in his ear. Trance, who was the closest person to them, giggled as she heard what Beka said. The others just looked at the couple in confusion as Dylan's face turned red. He turned and replied in a low whisper. Beka smiled and they both stood up.

"If you'll excuse us, I'm going to walk Miss Valentine back to her quarters, then I'll be going to bed. Merry Christmas everybody."

"Merry Christmas." As they left, the three crewmembers who hadn't heard Beka's comment crowded closer to Trance.

"What did she say, Trance?" Rommie asked.

"You didn't hear them?" Rommie shook her head. "Well, Beka told Dylan, 'If you want to protection from a certain interfering engineer, _I'll_ make sure nothing happens to you.' Then Dylan replied, 'That sounds good to me.' Then they left." Her sideways glance indicated that more had been said that she wasn't revealing. But, instead of waiting for the others to press her for more information, she yawned and got up. "I'm going to go find Harper and tell him that they're not mad and then _I'm_ going to go to bed. I'll clean this up in the morning. Good night." She left with a smile that seemed too cheerful.

"Why do I think that what she just said means exactly the same thing as what Dylan implied?" Rommie asked.

"Because it 'twas the Night before Christmas..." Rev laughed for a moment before actually offering a serious answer. "Or maybe it was something in the eggnog."


End file.
